Freerun by Jean-Louis Wolff

Movement in the urban landscape has been a particular interest of BRANSCH artist Jean-Louis Wolff. He recently ran into a French cook named Ivig in Berlin. Ivig, a free-runner, reminded Jean-Louis of the circus artists he has worked with in the past, but an artist without a net. Defying gravity and contorting his body, Ivig was the perfect inspiration and collaborator with Jean-Louis, resulting in these dynamic photos.

Skate World by Jean-Louis Wolff

BRANSCH artist Jean-Louis Wolff loves movement and activity, and in his latest work, brings a fresh take on skater culture while applying his trademark skills. Photographed in Berlin on a cold, chilly Christmas, the joie de vivre of the skaters and the study of movement juxtaposed with the urban landscape reminded Jean-Louis of his work with circus performers. MORE

Jean-Louis Wolff for The Draft Mag

BRANSCH artist Jean-Louis Wolff was first introduced to The Draft Mag by producer Bettina Beissmann, and was subsequently assigned to do a show-stopping fashion shoot for the Berlin-based online magazine, a quarterly publication dedicated to fashion, photography and art.

In search of the meaning of “showstopper,” Jean-Louis created a moodboard, collecting images of pop icons from the 1950′s – distilling the essence of what made them iconic and unforgettable. MORE

Jean-Louis Wolff for Landmark Magazine

BRANSCH artist Jean-Louis Wolff was invited by Landmark fashion editor Ruth du Cann to work on 2 fashion spreads for Landmark Magazine’s end of 2012 issue. Landmark is a luxury shopping mall in Hong Kong Central, and this publication is both a creative editorial platform for the mall, as well as high-end brands located within.

For this issue, Jean-Louis went in 2 different directions. For the first series with a friends theme, the talent is well-lit, animated and dynamic, like his athletic photography. In the following series just in time for Christmas, he embraced the deeper jewel-tone clothing colors and the lighting followed suit with a moodier look.

This twin set of photo stories for Landmark Magazine marks a reunion and another successful collaboration between Jean-Louis and Ruth. When Jean-Louis was first starting his photographic career in Asia, he worked with Ruth du Cann when she was Fashion Editor at Elle Hong Kong.

‘Shanghai circus’ by Jean-Louis Wolff at Canvas Malibu

If you are on the west coast this winter, please check out works by BRANSCH artist Jean-Louis Wolff, part of a group show “The Qi of Modern Cathay” at CANVAS Malibu. This exhibition, curated by Kim Chu Hahn and PINCOLLECTIVE, explores the fertile heritage of Chinese culture and its various incarnations in the contemporary world. You can own your very own print from this Shanghai circus series that Jean-Louis created with June Lee when he was based in Shanghai. MORE

The retelling of the myth of Europa by Jean-Louis Wolff

BRANSCH artist Jean-Louis Wolff worked with artist Pauline Payen, a fellow French ex-pat also living in Berlin, on a print piece for an art publication based in Toulouse, France. The theme of Europe inspired this homage to the Greek mythology of Europa, a Phoenician woman abducted by the god Zeus in the form of a white bull, who takes her westward to the island of Crete.

The difference is that in Jean-Louis’ photograph, the bull is taking Europa in the opposite direction, eastward, surrounded by flying figures wearing golden panties, echoing the stars on the flag of the European Union.

Jean-Louis Wolff for Cadogan Kennedy Town

Cadogan, a new residential development located in Hong Kong’s Kennedy Town, is being poised to become the next “it”-address with the branding campaign by Marc & Chantal Design and photographs by BRANSCH artist Jean-Louis Wolff.

Marc & Chantal Design wanted a look that matched the cool, modern interior architecture by Andre Fu, in contrast with other ad campaigns that overemphasized luxury to the extreme.

Jean-Louis Wolff photographed a wide range of lifestyle looks in a mix of indoor and outdoor locations around the Cadogan, following the Paris based model Jamie Gong, as she showcased the various amenities of this new residential development.

Jean-Louis Wolff for Reebok Asia Pacific

Some dream of running away to join the circus, or having the ability to float above the ground. BRANSCH artist Jean-Louis Wolff got to play with this idea with folks who have done both! Hong Kong based Reebok Asia Pacific wanted Le Cirque du Soleil to advertise their new line of super light shoes, and Jean-Louis’ past experience working with circus artists helped with this job.

In order to create the illusion of weightlessness, Jean-Louis planned out floating poses that required minimum support without relying on heavy post-production retouching. Cirque du Soleil artists from nearby Macau took the jetfoil fast ferry over to the shoot location at the Hong Kong stadium. MORE

GROSSARTIG: a film by June-Louis

BRANSCH artistic duo June-Louis have created a video that is quite a page-turner!

In conjunction with the publication of GROSSARTIG, a new quarterly large-format magazine devoted to photography, illustration and design, June-Louis have animated the experience of flipping through GROSSARTIG in a playful way, sometimes using actions inspired by the images on the page.

Le grain de sable by June-Louis

“Le Grain De Sable” is June-Louis’ continuation with wind experimentation, a followup to the series “Red Wind,” in which a piece of red silk billowed around the human form. (see our previous blog post).

This series is all about the sand of the Taklamakan desert in China and its sensual dance with the wind. It is land art, performance, and the work of a mad scientist, all rolled into one – only to be revealed by the flash of a strobe and captured by the camera. They specifically went to the desert for this experience because one could not predict exactly how the images were going to look.

June-Louis’ team included Xiao Wei the assistant and video by Severin, According to June-Louis, the road that took them across the sea of sand resembled a floating bridge, and once made up the legendary Silk Road, and are the only way through the inhospitable desert. The ecology of the region, a place of recent ethnic unrest between the Muslim Uighurs and the Han Chinese settlers, is threatened by the expansion of the desert. This is partly caused by the Han Settlers exhausting water resources with their intensive farming projects.

As a note to equipment techies, June-Louis have glowing reviews of the Hasselblad service center in Shanghai. Their digital medium format Hasselblad camera returned from the desert very dirty yet still working, and the Hasselblad folks did a great job getting the sand out of the camera for free! MORE

RakiBCN Spring/Summer 2012 by June-Louis

BRANSCH artists June-Louis collaborated with Raquel Fernandez, a.k.a. Raki, a young fashion designer from Barcelona, on a video showcasing her Spring/Summer 2012 clothing collection. Her fashion line is called “Raki BCN” and it is inspired by the vibrancy and creative freedom on display in Berlin. The designer loved the German city so much so that she moved there from Barcelona. The clothing is designed to be humorous and easy to wear, made with colorful fabrics and elegant patterns, perfect for drawing attention and garnering smiles from passersby.

June-Louis played the role of puppeteers, with model Jade Tournoux as their beautiful marionette. They stitched countless still images, changing Jade’s position and the objects around her in minute steps in each individual frame to create the resulting optical illusion, bending our concept of time and place, as the beautiful girl floats in and out of different scenarios and unusual things happen around her.

NIKE CHINA, ‘BEIJING CITY ATTACK’ by June Louis

Having worked with Wieden+Kennedy Shanghai and Nike on a previous campaign, BRANSCH artists June-Louis were part of an ad campaign focused on Beijing’s thriving street basketball scene. June-Louis photographed local Beijing street basketball players, as well as the source backgrounds of a basketball court, Shanghai’s Forbidden City, and The Great Wall.

The young athletes are wearing unique pieces by young Chinese fashion designers that fuse Chinese imperial gowns with Nike sportswear, while the post-illustrative effects were done by a French couple, Camille and Julien. MORE

Cullen Jones in “Sink and Swim”/NY Times Magazine by June-Louis

The NY Times Magazine assigned BRANSCH duo June-Louis to photograph Cullen Jones in his natural element, rising to the surface after diving into the water. This week, Jones will compete in the FINA World Championships in Shanghai and aims to win big in the 2012 Olympics in London.

When this “sprinter in a speedo” was 5 years old, he nearly drowned at a waterpark because he did not know how to swim. This was a life-changing event, and since then, he has gone onto break the American record in the 50m freestyle and win the gold medal in the 4x100m relay with Olympic teammate Michael Phelps in 2008, as well as serve as an ambassador for the USA Swimming Foundation’s “Make a Splash” initiative that teaches children how to swim.

A flash of red wind by June-Louis

While floating in a tiny catamaran on a wide and shallow lake in Shanghai, June-Louis were rocked by the wind, and inspired by the capricious changes the element had on their little watercraft.

The resulting series features the fleeting shape of fabric around the human form resembles the raw rock of unfinished sculptures, or perhaps a bloodstain pressed between microscope slides.

As opposed to a sculpture from stone made with a chisel, and a long period of time; the logistics of forming a sculpture made of air require short flashes in order to freeze time and capture particular gestures. Broncolor equipment was ideal for control of the flash duration, and as a result, June-Louis won a Broncolor award for this series in 2009.

Heroes of a Lego World

En route to their Shanghai studio (some 4000 km away!), June-Louis piloted their studio minivan along China’s Route 312, which parallels the Silk Road and runs east-west across the breadth of the country.

They drove for days, local traffic long gone, and long haul trucks were the main presence on this asphalt path. These “heroes of a Lego world” had such character that they inspired a proper portrait session.

An opportunity arose as they entered the Hexi corridor in Gansu province and happened upon an elderly couple selling watermelon from a roadside tent. The local hospitality and sweet refreshments (June-Louis quickly became their best customers) made this the ideal location from which to set up their tripod and lighting equipment, instead of sticking out all alone in the desert. The favorable weather conditions and picturesque cloud backdrop were a plus, too.

The speed of the trucks passing by, in addition to startling drivers by flashing strobes, created a technical and logistical challenge to the shoot, but thankfully no mishaps.

Click MORE to see more truck portraits and check out June-Louis’ road-side snapshots at the end of this post. MORE

BRANSCH Welcomes June-Louis

June-Louis is the artful blending of the names of June Lee and Jean-Louis Wolff.

Throughout their works, June-Louis explore the beauty of motion and emotion, working with elements of nature like water, wind, desert sand, gravity. While maintaining a focus on editorial and advertising photography, they continue to develop fresh ideas with personal and fine art projects.

The French-Korean photographic duo was formed in 2004 in Seoul. Their first move was to set up a base studio in Shanghai to handle advertising clients such as Shanghai Tang, Nike, Coca-Cola and Gore-Tex, as well as contributing regularly to editorials like Modern Weekly, China Vogue, and Elle. Currently, they are located in Berlin. MORE